Bug Report Bucket--can we have a simple way to report bugs?

If I could submit a report for any bug in 60 seconds, I would probably file a report for almost every bug I found. But since it isn’t that quick and painless, I usually only report a small fraction of the bugs I come across.

I suggest we put together a "Bug Report Bucket" where we can just fill out a form with a couple fields, no login required, and no need to search to see if others have reported the bug already, and "environment" as an optional field. The whole process could be done in 60 seconds.

The "preferred" way to submit bugs would not change. The "bucket" would just be a second option for all of us who don’t want to spend 20 minutes figuring out how to report a minor bug.

My second suggestion is to have the "Bugs and Requests" link on the MODx homepage link to a page that lists the official locations to file bugs for all MODx projects, subprojects, AND addons--plus a link to the one stop Bug Report Bucket. Naturally most developers would give less priority to bugs reported via the bucket, but it would be a good way to be alerted about bugs that would otherwise be unreported.

Background:
Yesterday I found two bugs that I figured I really should report. So I went modx.com and clicked on "Bugs and Requests" in the Revolution menu. That brought me to
http://bugs.modx.com/projects/revo/

It looks like we’re using Redmine now instead of JIRA. That’s cool. I use Redmine for my own project tracking sometimes, so it should be pretty easy for me to use. So I poked around looking for a button to submit a bug, but I couldn’t find one. I didn’t see any text that said I had to log in to submit a bug, but I eventually noticed that I wasn’t logged in. So I logged in. Usually that would stop me from filling a bug, but I already have an account and I happen to know my password, so I got past that step.

I did like I should and did a few searches to see if anyone else had filled the same bug, and then I created a new report. But there was no appropriate category to file bugs for these particular addons (in spite of the fact that both addons are maintained by core devs). For the second bug I searched around the forums, github, etc. to find another place to file the bug but could not find any.

So after spending all that time and effort yesterday, today I see that both bugs were rejected as invalid. The responses were thoughtful and helpful--one I have to file at github, and the other I can try reporting in the forums (the issue was reported 6 months back on the forums and the precise problem identified, so I don’t know how much luck I’ll have with reporting it again).

Hopefully I’ll find the time to report the bugs the proper way...

rfoster:

Thanks for the post. We’re reviewing the bug tracking process this week, and will hopefully find a smoother way for you to submit issues. I don’t know the two you are talking about specifically, but totally get the message on the overall process.

Having to log in will likely still be a requirement, lest we end up loading the system with bugs about our ability to purchase cheap pharmaceuticals over the internet. We’re going to look into a good soln for that in the process as well.

Again, thanks. We’re taking our bug tracking seriously, and working on it.

- Kevin

I’ve put in a feature request for this too, but it would be seriously handy if you had a centralized bug/feature reporting tool for EACH package. Reporting bugs in MODx is relatively easy. Reporting them for some 3PC is a pain in the ass.

I put this in my request, but it would be hugely helpful if you linked to those default pages directly from a standardized field inside the plugin or snippet. So if you viewed the snippet you could instantly click links that would take you to its home page or allow you to file a bug. The bonuses from doing this from within the MODx manager is you could easily append any relevant system info to the bug report.

LOGIN problems:: certainly need area to report that as well.

I had to create a completely new account (with my alternate email address) in order to be able to log in.

So, is the LOGIN problem (to modx.com/forums.modx.com) related to the modx bug report on logins?

The account which I have been unable to login with is: cutnglass
Could this be related to the Gravatar issue I saw on bug reports. FWIW, that particular account name/email address has a gravatar account associated with it.

Login attempts to the cutnglass account come back with a message stating that the account has been suspended -- and that is AFTER a password reset! Also, it took an inordinately lengthy amount of time for emails relating to that account to reach me. The (additional) new account which I set up was really fast on the automated emails (i.e., "[modx.com] Please activate your account!").

So, where SHOULD I post this question related to the problem logging in?

[ed. note: maryschneider last edited this post 12 years, 6 months ago.]

mary,

Send an email to [email protected] and we'll get you fixed up. Thanks.